Are portals turning us into a nation of property snoopers?

New research suggests that the prevalence of property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla are turning us into a nation of property snoopers.

The research, carried out by a UK home insurance company suggests that 63 percent of Brits own up to searching property websites and looking at properties that they have absolutely no intention of buying, what’s more, a staggering 2.6 million property snoopers admit to doing it at least once a day!

We Brits love property; we love owning it, developing it, decorating it, and most of all we like to make a good return on it, and I think that’s where a lot of the motivation for this online ‘snooping’ is coming from.

We want to know what sort of property is available, and how it compares to our own home, we want to know how much our neighbour paid for their property in comparison to how much we paid for ours, and we want to have a good old snoop round other people’s homes, looking for inspiration, dreaming of what we might buy if budget were no option, and simply reassuring ourselves that our own home was a wise purchase.

It seems Danny’s assessment may be accurate, as the research also found that 38 percent of Brits have used the internet to check the price of someone else’s home in the last year; these included neighbours, family members, close friends and even work colleagues.

Increase in use of the Rightmove and Zoopla style websites has undoubtedly led to more property snoopers, but it’s also provoked several other changes to the property market.

Danny explains:

House hunters now have the property market at their fingertips. You can search for a new home on your daily commute to work, on your lunchbreak, whilst doing household chores, and even whilst watching telly. This ‘instant access’ has had a huge impact on the property market, especially in areas of high demand where property is snapped up particularly quickly, and in some cases offers have been made on properties just using the online details, without the buyer actually stepping foot inside the property.

At the other end of the spectrum, potential buyers who may not have felt ready to register interest with high street estate agents are able to use sites like Rightmove and Zoopla to keep an eye on properties coming onto the market without any commitment. A prospective buyer who was perhaps considering moving in the next year or so may decide to move sooner if they spot a property they particularly like the look of online.

Today’s prospective buyer is one who is looking for speed and convenience, but with little commitment, and that’s exactly what property websites like Rightmove and Zoopla offer to the property market.